The time is Nye

"Science Guy" Bill Nye '77 returns to campus this weekend for the dedication of a new clock atop Rhodes Hall, designed to indicate solar noon (when the sun is highest in the sky).

Nye will give a public lecture on the project and the clock's features, Aug. 27 at 11:30 a.m. in Alice Statler Auditorium, followed by public viewing of the clock from Hoy Field. The clock also is fully visible from the Schoellkopf Field Crescent and to people going to or from the School of Hotel Administration and Barton Hall.

The timepiece is fitted into the 10-foot-diameter circle on the top floor of Rhodes, intended by the building's architects to house a large, outdoor clock.

Nye has overseen the clock project for several years, working with faculty, students and administrators. He calls the final result "an elegant design that combines the science, technology and history of timekeeping in a way that is consistent with the style and mission of Rhodes Hall, as well as with the [university's] broader educational and technological heritage."

Mechanical and electrical engineering students helped design and modify the clock's light ducting system, along with a controller for damper vanes to open and close in time with the motion of the sun. The solar noon indicator will receive sunlight through its duct for 14 minutes each day.

Terrence Malick, complete

Cornell Cinema will present all of director Terrence Malick's films, the way they should be seen -- in 35mm prints on the big screen -- from Aug. 31 to Sept. 24.

Malick's narrative films, including his latest, "The Tree of Life," are visually arresting tone poems -- majestic, epic and metaphysical. "Terrence Malick: The Works" features a rare screening of his 1973 debut, "Badlands," Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, on an archival print from the Academy Film Archive. "Badlands" stars Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as a young couple on a murder spree, a story inspired by real-life killers Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate.

The series continues with the 1978 western "Days of Heaven," Sept. 7 and 9; "The Tree of Life" (2011), Sept. 7 and 9-11; the WWII drama "The Thin Red Line" (1998), Sept. 14 and 17; and "The New World" (2005), with Colin Farrell as Capt. John Smith, Sept. 21 and 24. Information: http://cinema.cornell.edu

Welcome Weekend

Welcome Weekend 2011 brings in the school year with late-night fun, games of chance and the annual student activities fair, showcasing more then 300 student groups.

Casino Night, Aug. 26 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. throughout Willard Straight Hall, will feature poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, bingo, mah-jongg and other games, using fake money. Players can gamble for raffle prizes and enjoy nonalcoholic mocktails, a chocolate fountain, food, live music, a DJ in the Memorial Room and a high-rollers lounge. Participants who dress up for the casino or tropical cruise theme will receive additional raffle tickets.

Ho Plaza will be transformed into a festive international Street Fair, Aug. 27 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., with games, food by campus cultural organizations, multicolored lights, magicians and entertainment by student groups, including Bhangra and Yamatai; free snow cones, popcorn and cotton candy.

At ClubFest, Aug. 28, 1-4 p.m. in Barton Hall, student groups will offer information on their activities and organizations, with various performances. All events are free and open to the Cornell community. Information: http://rso.cornell.edu/welcomeweekend/

Travel and political theory

Political scientist Roxanne Euben, an influential scholar of Islamic political thought, will lecture on "Travel, Translation and Comparative Political Theory," illustrating cross-cultural comparisons between Islam and the West, Aug. 30 at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium in Goldwin Smith Hall.

Her College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Lecture will be followed by a reception in the Ruth Woolsey Findley Gallery of Art. Both events are free and open to the public.

Euben is chair of political science at Wellesley College, where she has taught since 1998. She is the author of "Enemy in the Mirror: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Limits of Modern Rationalism" and "Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge," and co-editor of "Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and Contexts from al-Banna to Bin Laden."

A vision of modern Cuba

Cuban painter Carlos Garaicoa will give an artist's talk, Aug. 31 at 5:15 p.m. at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, in conjunction with the current exhibition of his work, "Carlos Garaicoa: La enmienda que hay en mí (Making Amends)," on display through Oct. 2. The talk and museum admission are free and open to the public.

Inspired by his native Havana, Garaicoa explores social and political issues in the context of the built environment, with an interest in human rights, the decay of 20th-century utopias and the failure of modernism as a catalyst of social change. The exhibition, presented English and Spanish, first opened in 2009 at the National Museum of Fine Arts during the 10th Havana Biennial. Its Johnson Museum showing is supported in part by the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Information: http://rso.cornell.edu/welcomeweekend/.